James Angus is making moves.
The former general manager of Viking Residential has stepped into the C-suite as the new chief executive officer of non-bank lender First Federal. And while some of the bigger banks have been pulling back from brokers to focus on proprietary networks, Angus is leaning in — planning a fivefold broker network expansion and gunning for a $1 billion milestone.
"I think the trick with brokers, or probably one of my biggest learnings with brokers, is it's really all about how much you put into the channel, how you invest in education and awareness," Angus told Australian Broker.
"What I've learned — and what I understand to be absolutely true — is that if you invest enough into the broker relationships that you have, and if the broker is very clear about what customers you are targeting, they will give you exactly what you want," he said. "Some of the frustrations from some of the banks and other players that are conflicted are around, where do we invest? Do we need to invest more in our proprietary network? Or pull a bit back from brokers? I think a little bit of that comes down to [the fact] that they really haven't invested enough in it."
First Federal is currently writing roughly $100 million a quarter, Angus said, and is listed on the lender panels of YBR Aggregation and outsource Financial, with additional ties to sub-aggregators like Purple Circle and My Local Broker.
But the new CEO has his sights set on growing that figure — and those relationships — every month. To get there, he plans to partner with major aggregators like Loan Market and Connective by early 2026, grow the broker network to 10,000, deploy BDMs in key markets like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and reach $1 billion in volume by 2027.
"First Federal is probably only accessing about 10% of the market — call it 2000 brokers," Angus said. "So one of my must-dos over the next couple of months is to get us on more aggregator panels, get us in front of more brokers, and do that in a way that really serves that business well.
"If we increase the number of brokers that we can access, that'll very quickly get us on the right trajectory to be doing $100 million [a month]," he continued. "And at the same time, continue to refine our offering, gather broker feedback, and find where those gaps are in the market."
First Federal offers several broker-oriented features, including 0.65% upfront commissions on home loans with no clawbacks, self-declared business loans of up to $25 million, and white-label funding options designed to support broker-branded offerings.
"What excited me about the business is that it's got a very good foundation; I could see that it could benefit and grow in the right way from my leadership," Angus said. "And if there was one thing I learned from my time at Bluestone, is that you don't want to be all things to all people. And I think, particularly for us, there's an opportunity to focus on a couple of parts of the market and do those really, really well."
In addition, the closure of smaller shops — including National Australia Bank's (NAB) recent shutdown of its white-label Advantedge brand — has opened doors for brokers and lenders alike, and Angus said First Federal is ready to seize the opportunity.
"The withdrawal of a couple of those big brands has left a big hole in the white label market, and there's not necessarily a natural successor to go in and replace them," he explained. "And in my experience, having done white label again for 25 years, you build great customer loyalty through your own brand. So I think there's an absolute place for white label or branded offerings with those bigger brokerages; they really don't have a lot of options today in terms of who can do that for them.
"And when we look at how the broker market's evolved, if you look at where the business is coming from and the growing parts of the market, it's very skewed towards those bigger brokerages," Angus continued. "A lot of the growth in volume and market share is coming from those bigger businesses. Those bigger businesses are getting bigger, and they're writing more volume, and what they're seeing is an opportunity to invest in their own brand and to do more for their customers. And having a good product offering under your own brand is a great way of doing that. You increase your brand equity, you increase your awareness."
Sydney-based Angus, who officially began his tenure with First Federal on 26 June, brings with him more than two decades of experience in the mortgage and financial services sectors.
His resume includes several senior-level positions at places like Viking Residential, Macquarie Bank, Connective and Bluestone Home Loans, among others.
First Federal, meanwhile, was founded in 2020.
The firm operates exclusively through the broker channel, with no direct-to-consumer arm. Its offerings span residential, business and commercial loans — from standard prime to specialist near-prime and self-declared commercial loans of up to $25 million.
Angus added that First Federal offers a distinct boutique experience — a quality that the executive is committed to preserving.
"There's a genuine opportunity for a business like ours that doesn't necessarily want to be the biggest and the most scalable business," the CEO said. "We can still really deliver a people-first solution to brokers, where they can engage with and work with good people and not have to necessarily deal with some of those frustrations that they deal with, with the automated credit decisioning and things like that."
